Recipe Review: Bran Muffins

The last couple of weeks I was getting in the really bad habit of buying myself a coffee and muffin for breakfast every morning before work. So this last weekend I decided instead of being lazy and paying for a 3 dollar muffin every morning I should be making my own. And my newest cookbook, Super Natural  Every Day by 101 Cookbooks blogger Heidi Swanson had the perfect bran muffin recipe for me to try. See recipe below.

Bran Muffin Recipe

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt (I used goats milk yogurt)

1/2 Barely melted unsalted butter

1/4 cup maple syrup (I used 1/2 cup and excluded the sugar mentioned below)

1/2 cup unprocessed wheat bran or oat bran

1 1/2 cups plain, unsweetened bran cereal

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup natural cane sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the middle of the oven. Generously butter a standard 12-cup muffin pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, and maple syrup. Sprinkle the bran and the cereal across the top, stir, and allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, in a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the top of the wet and stir until just combined. Immediately fill each muffin cup three-quarters full.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the edges of the muffins begin to brown and the tops have set. Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn the muffins out of the pan to cool completely on a wire rack.

credit: image and recipe from Super Natural Every Day: Well-loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen, by Heidi Swanson